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Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Miscellany - July 11th

It seems like I have recently become obsessed with cakes and cupcakes lately. (Not cake pops.) With networking sites like Pinterest, Google+, and Google Reader, it seems like I am never, ever, ever at a loss for cakes spectacular. (you see what I did there? I put the adjective after the word and then italicized it to make the idea seem cooler! Grammar is awesome!)

But I digress. Of all the cakes I've found in my "research," my personal favorite comes from Matador Life's article, "20 Incredible Creative Cakes." It's a crafty woman's dream cake, in my opinion; you'll find yarn, knitting needles, scissors, embroidery thread, buttons, a pincushion, an embroidery hoop, and all sorts of other little surprises hidden both inside the basket and around the base. This is a real cake, people. A real, honest-to-goodness, iced and deliciously edible cake. If I were a diva, I would demand this for my birthday. Actually, if I were a diva I would probably demand this for Thursday. Why? Um, because I could. Don't make this difficult.

A close second would be this owl cake from Cake Central, because anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with owls. (I guess if you're reading this and you don't know me, you are now aware of my preoccupation with these adorable creatures...so it works out great for everybody.) My friend Jen had a baby shower several months ago, and I walked in not knowing it would be the best owl-themed baby shower ever. I was absolutely enthralled with all the decorations and appetizers and treats and games.I took lots of pictures.

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Okay. I need to move on. Let's talk about food blogs. There is a new "up-and-coming" blogger posting over at The Hectic Gourmet. She's got some clever ideas about cooking, including some unconventional recipes and articles found across the internet. I love her "Five Great Roll Ups" post, especially since there is apparently such a thing as pizza bread. It's like bread, but with pizza inside. Seriously? Seriously. And for dessert, may I interest you in the Heavenly Chocolate Cake Roll, also listed in the post?

my cinnamon swirl bread

I have made cinnamon swirl bread before, which is listed in the post, so I know that it's not nearly as difficult as most people believe it to be. In fact, I've heard many people (okay, two women) explain that rolled desserts are not difficult to make at all. When you stop and think about it, a lot of our dining options include some form of "rolling": cream cheese pinwheels, burritos, sushi...um, other rolly things that I can't think of right now....

Oh my gosh, can you imagine if you ate only rolled food for an entire day??? Cinnamon rolls for breakfast, sushi rolls for lunch, pizza rolls for dinner, and a slice of chocolate cake roll for dessert. Um, guys...I think I just created a new diet plan. Expect a book soon, tentatively titled, Rolling off the Pounds. It will be delightful.

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After I make millions of dollars off of this new diet book, I'll probably have a lot of time to indulge in expanding my craft repertoire. I'll have rooms of fabric and glitter. Rooms, I tell you! (shakes fist defiantly)

So, being the thoughtful person that I am, I believe I should begin on projects in which my future children will delight. Por exemplo: the dinosaur-robot. This creation was apparently featured in an Anthropologie catalog some time ago, and was not actually the invention of a crafty parent (though, I suppose the corporate/creative offices of this particular business could employ crafty parents). I think I could totally make this. I have lots of boxes, packing tape, a hot glue gun, and a box cutter. Now, I just need to find a young child to test out its durability and real-life cuteness. Because if I work 10-15 hours on this box dinobot, it had better look cute.

I would also consider gluing together 6-8 giant boxes in a pyramid and painting the entire thing to look exactly like a massive royal wedding cake. I'd place it in the middle of my living room, put on my wedding dress, and somehow convince my husband to put on a tux so that we could be giant cake toppers. Best Christmas card photo. Ever.